Thousands of strangers turn out for Texas veteran’s funeral
The thousands in attendance as Joseph Walker was laid to rest Monday couldn’t tell you much about him — except that he served his country.
Walker, born in 1946, was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War era and was discharged from service honorably.
He “was called by Our Heavenly Father on Monday, November 19th, 2018,” his obituary reads. The obituary does not say what Walker’s rank was.
Gilbert Cavazos, funeral director at All Faiths Funeral Service in Austin, Texas, said All Faiths provided a wake and funeral for Walker. But his family were concerned about meeting the cost of the services.
The funeral home said it would provide shelter for Walker until something could be worked out but, despite repeated efforts, it has since been unable to reach the family.
“We have to just have closure now,” said Cavazos. “This gentleman deserves this.”
A call to action
Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery had a simple request.
“We have the distinct honor to provide a full military burial for unaccompanied United States Air Force Veteran Joseph Walker,” their Facebook post from January 24 read. “If you have the opportunity, please come out and attend. We do NOT leave Veterans behind.”
{“author_name”:”Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery”,”author_url”:”https://www.facebook.com/CentralTexasSVC/”,”provider_url”:”https://www.facebook.com”,”provider_name”:”Facebook”,”success”:true,”height”:null,”html”:”&#lt;div id=”fb-root”&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;n&#lt;script&#gt;(function(d, s, id) {n var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];n if (d.getElementById(id)) return;n js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;n js.src = ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v3.2’;n fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);n}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));&#lt;/script&#gt;&#lt;div class=”fb-post” data-href=”https://www.facebook.com/CentralTexasSVC/photos/a.1021658224540463/2264102073629399/?type=3″ data-width=”552″&#gt;&#lt;blockquote cite=”https://www.facebook.com/CentralTexasSVC/photos/a.1021658224540463/2264102073629399/?type=3″ class=”fb-xfbml-parse-ignore”&#gt;&#lt;p&#gt;We have the distinct honor to provide a full military burial for unaccompanied United States Air Force Veteran Joseph…&#lt;/p&#gt;Posted by &#lt;a href=”https://www.facebook.com/CentralTexasSVC/”&#gt;Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery&#lt;/a&#gt; on &#lt;a href=”https://www.facebook.com/CentralTexasSVC/photos/a.1021658224540463/2264102073629399/?type=3″&#gt;Thursday, January 24, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;”,”type”:”rich”,”version”:”1.0″,”url”:”https://www.facebook.com/CentralTexasSVC/photos/a.1021658224540463/2264102073629399/?type=3″,”width”:552}
Word spread quickly as local media and others, including politicians, began to echo the call to action.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1089213183359967232″,”author_name”:”Ted Cruz”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/tedcruz”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Air Force Veteran Joseph Walker will be laid to rest Monday, and no one is expected to attend. &#lt;br&#gt;&#lt;br&#gt;The cemetery said they do not know where his family is and they do not want him to be laid to rest alone, so they are asking the public to attend. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/ydf39wwrBn”&#gt;https://t.co/ydf39wwrBn&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1089213183359967232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 26, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
“ATTN TEXANS,” wrote CNN’s own Jake Tapper. “No one is expected to attend the funeral for Joseph Walker, who served in the US Air Force 1964-1968.”
Military honors
Car after car after car lined the roads in and around the cemetery.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/timbofowler/status/1089908526158413824″,”author_name”:”Timbo Fowler”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/timbofowler”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;&#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/tedcruz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;@tedcruz&#lt;/a&#gt; And as many or more cars behind me as in front. And more coming in. Hundreds here for Joseph Walker’s Memorial. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/G7Rq9g223G”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/G7Rq9g223G&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— Timbo Fowler (@timbofowler) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/timbofowler/status/1089908526158413824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 28, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
So many people showed up that vehicles were backed up onto a nearby highway. The ceremony started late to allow everyone to attend. Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody, who dispatched units to assist with traffic for the burial, estimated there were more than 5,000 people there.
When the ceremony began, shortly after 10 a.m., dozens of U.S. flags waved in the wind. Then three planes, in an apparent flyover, buzzed across the sky.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/yoda76547/status/1089917384259977217″,”author_name”:”irmgard price aka mama bear”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/yoda76547″,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”da” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Flyover for Joseph walker &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/5ZJnSOc6K2″&#gt;pic.twitter.com/5ZJnSOc6K2&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— irmgard price aka mama bear (@yoda76547) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/yoda76547/status/1089917384259977217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 28, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
“Today, we’re not strangers. Today, we are family. This is our brother, Joseph Walker. I don’t have a whole lot of information, but it doesn’t matter,” said a speaker at the funeral. “Today, we give him honors,”
Watch the entire ceremony here:
{“author_name”:”Texas General Land Office”,”author_url”:”https://www.facebook.com/txglo/”,”provider_url”:”https://www.facebook.com”,”provider_name”:”Facebook”,”success”:true,”height”:889,”html”:”&#lt;div id=”fb-root”&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;n&#lt;script&#gt;(function(d, s, id) {n var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];n if (d.getElementById(id)) return;n js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;n js.src = ‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v3.2’;n fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);n}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));&#lt;/script&#gt;&#lt;div class=”fb-video” data-href=”https://www.facebook.com/txglo/videos/538203630016074/”&#gt;&#lt;blockquote cite=”https://www.facebook.com/txglo/videos/538203630016074/” class=”fb-xfbml-parse-ignore”&#gt;&#lt;a href=”https://www.facebook.com/txglo/videos/538203630016074/”&#gt;&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;p&#gt;Hundreds of Texans gathering to honor unaccompanied United States Air Force Veteran Joseph Walker. ��&#lt;/p&#gt;Posted by &#lt;a href=”https://www.facebook.com/txglo/”&#gt;Texas General Land Office&#lt;/a&#gt; on Monday, January 28, 2019&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;&#lt;/div&#gt;”,”type”:”video”,”version”:”1.0″,”url”:”https://www.facebook.com/txglo/videos/538203630016074/”,”width”:500}
Then, the military honors began. Three rifle shots followed by a solemn horn playing “Taps.”
And finally, two servicemembers took the flag draped atop Walker’s coffin and folded it.
{“url”:”https://twitter.com/yoda76547/status/1089928608079138821″,”author_name”:”irmgard price aka mama bear”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/yoda76547″,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;Taps for Joseph walker Air Force veteran from Austin tx &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/9TJCtFiUeK”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/9TJCtFiUeK&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;— irmgard price aka mama bear (@yoda76547) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/yoda76547/status/1089928608079138821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;January 28, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}
“All people should have someone there for them at their funeral,” said Irmgard Price, who drove in from nearby Belton. It was an honor to be in attendance for Walker’s burial, said Price.
Williamson County sheriff’s Sgt. Marco A. Gomez said his father and grandfather are both veterans — of Vietnam and World War II respectively.
“I couldn’t imagine them not having anyone around during their funerals,” he told CNN.
Gomez traveled to attend the funeral to make sure Walker knew there was someone thankful for his service. “Anyone who signs that blank check for us deserves it,” he said.
Correction: This story has been updated with Walker’s correct birthday.
